Tenby councillors have called for Pembrokeshire County Council to consider a night-time trade waste collection in the town. The call came at Tuesday night's meeting of the town council following recent discussions between councillors, traders in the town and county council over the decision to cut back collections in Tenby. A storm last Thursday evening highlighted the issue when rubbish was strewn across many streets of the town and Tudor Square. The town clerk, Mr. Andrew Davies, showed photographs to members which Clr. Mike Evans had taken to document the problem. "Lots and lots of visitors were walking around the town and this is the sight that they were greeted with," said Mr. Davies. "My phone has been red hot with calls from traders since we canvassed their views at a recent meeting. "One call queried as to what would happen if the refuse collection lorry was to breakdown one morning, and sure enough the following day, at 9.30 am on the Friday, both refuse lorries broke down," he continued. Mr. Davies also said that 140 letters had been sent out to traders regarding the trade waste issue, but many had misunderstood the collection times and process and were now only getting one collection a week, with businesses inside the town getting their rubbish picked up on a Friday and ones outside the town walls on a Monday. The clerk also explained that many office businesses had complained that a Monday collection was far from ideal as they were predominantly open between Monday to Friday, and it meant that their waste would have to be left outside premises for an entire weekend. Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter suggested that the county council should look again at introducing a night collection to avoid such problems. "After that terrific storm last week, St. George Street through to the Five Arches had cardboard strewn everywhere and the town looked dreadful," she said. "Anyone walking through it that evening would have left with an awful impression. "I think we should dip our feet in the water and request that county council consider a night collection," stressed Clr. Mrs. Rossiter. Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane, called for the matter to be sorted out as a matter of urgency. "I know that the early morning collection at 5 am will be resumed next week, but the county council must get on top of this," she said. "We're now into July and there's no time to pussy-foot around with this matter; we've got to hold another meeting with the authority where traders can get their views across so we can move forward and sort it out." Councillors agreed to invite the county council's head of environmental services, Mr. Barrie Davies, to a further meeting that would also be open to traders to discuss the matter. They also nominated Clr. Mrs. Christine Brown to chair the meeting.
